Golf clubs and many other ball striking devices may have various face and body features, as well as other characteristics that can influence the use and performance of the device. For example, users may wish to have improved impact properties, such as increased coefficient of restitution (COR) in the face, increased size of the area of greatest response or COR (also known as the “hot zone”) of the face, and/or improved efficiency of the golf ball on impact. The COR is defined as a ratio of the relative speed of the ball after impact divided by the relative speed of the ball before the impact. Since a significant portion of the energy loss during an impact of a golf club head with a golf ball is a result of energy loss as the golf ball deforms, reducing deformation of the golf ball during impact may increase energy transfer and velocity of the golf ball after impact, which benefits the golfer in the form of greater distance. The present devices and methods are provided to address at least some of these problems and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior ball striking devices. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.